Our First "Free" Weekend

Last weekend was our first "free" weekend in who knows how long! By "free", I mean that we did not have any sports functions going on... no birthday parties to run to... and no work!! Of course, we still managed to fill it and make it a busy one by planning a trip to take Mom to Ames to see Derek!!

We left Sioux City on Friday night after Zach got done with track practice and went to Mom's house in Laurens. Spent the night and then we all got up Saturday morning and drove to Ames to Derek's house. We hung out with Derek and his roommate, Carlos, for the morning then decided to go out to lunch. Derek took us to this restaurant called Hickory Park. Awesome BBQ place! The place was huge and I thought it was going to take a long time but we were seated at a table within 15-20 minutes and our drinks and food came right away! The prices are very reasonable also!! If anyone is ever in Ames, you got to be sure to check this place out! Just go down to the south end of Duff Ave. not too far from Highway 30!! Anyway, after our lunch, we went and did a little shopping at Wal-Mart and then went on a sight-seeing tour. Derek is currently taking business classes at Iowa State (yeah, I know what you're thinking... Dad is probably not happy about it!!) and so he took us around campus and showed us the buildings where his classes are. We also drove around Ames seeing the mall and where they are building a new water park. Then we went back and watched basketball and visited until Derek and Carlos had to go to work. Once we saw them off to work, we headed back to Laurens. We ordered pizza and watched the Iowa High School Boys State Basketball Tournament on TV. Sioux City had a high school team that was playing for the 3A Championship -- Bishop Heelan. We watched them win and then everyone called it an early evening! It had been a long day!!

Sunday was such a nice day that we didn't want to go home right away. We decided to drive up to Ruthven and visit other relatives. First, we went to Roger and Shirley's house (my aunt and uncle) and visited with them and some of my cousins were also there with their kids, so it was really nice to see them. Zach and Brianna got to see some cousins that they really don't see that often! I am really looking forward to our "reunion" this summer up at the Lakes!! I wish we could see everyone more often! We also went to Rich and Barb's farm to visit (another aunt and uncle!) My cousin, Lance, has enlisted in the Air Force and will be leaving within the month, so we wanted to be sure to see him before he left! Brianna loves going out to their place because their two girls have so many Barbie dolls to play with!! Needless to say, this visit ran a little longer than we intended it to, so we got back to Sioux City a little late that night! But is was so worth it!! Thanks for all the great visits, everyone!! Love ya!!